23:4 I would lay out my case 1 before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
23:7 There 2 an upright person
could present his case 3 before him,
and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
33:5 Reply to me, if you can;
set your arguments 4 in order before me
and take your stand!
1 tn The word מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) is normally “judgment; decision.” But in these contexts it refers to the legal case that Job will bring before God. With the verb עָרַךְ (’arakh, “to set in order; to lay out”) the whole image of drawing up a lawsuit is complete.
2 tn The adverb “there” has the sense of “then” – there in the future.
3 tn The form of the verb is the Niphal נוֹכָח (nokkakh, “argue, present a case”). E. Dhorme (Job, 346) is troubled by this verbal form and so changes it and other things in the line to say, “he would observe the upright man who argues with him.” The Niphal is used for “engaging discussion,” “arguing a case,” and “settling a dispute.”
4 tn The Hebrew text does not contain the term “arguments,” but this verb has been used already for preparing or arranging a defense.